Friday, 25 May 2018
Tough to lose your Jack of Hearts. Jack just hangin’ on the sidewalk…a few blocks from the middle school—was it lost by a student?
And here’s what a late magnolia blossom looks like…headed for dehydration and desiccation of the petals, while the seed part continues to develop.
Thursday, 24 May 2018
From the organic world, a flower (natch).
From the physical [umhm] physics world, a prismatic rainbow.
Wednesday, 23 May 2018
I have no sense of scale, the Guru said about this shell. It was perhaps just over a centimeter long. And under an apple tree (on the sidewalk). I choose to believe that the wind/rain overnight tipped it out of the nest, leaving the already hatched wee-bird safely behind.
I admit to an outsized attraction to ferniness—not a word, I suppose, but should be! The laciness of ferns is so aesthetically appealing, is it to my reptile brain?
I did not intend to select a pair of sidewalk photos, but that’s what I did. Hmmmm.
Tuesday, 22 May 2018
We voted today. Officials moved our voting spot to…well, I checked—fifty walking minutes away. We used to have a nice ritual of walking to our voting spot, in our library branch, a mere 16 minutes away…a lovely distance for a citizen-day outing.
Plus, this time we voted in a church—and not in the basement, but right there in the church part. We had to go up two steps onto the altar area to get our “credit card” to activate the voting machine (did not ask if they got up for people with wheelchairs or walkers). Also, I had to slog along a pew from the center aisle to get over to the side where the voting confessionals were lined up along the outside walls…but that edge aisle was too narrow for anyone to walk behind the voters without peeking…hence my pew stumble.
Still, I managed to keep my Stacys straight, and I had evaluated most of the down-ticket candidates at home, except, geeze, I didn’t know about all those issue/questions [they’re always terribly tricky to parse on the fly]. Seems like I almost always find a surprise on my ballot*—note to self: get better voting info….
* I remember when I began to vote that taped down on the front table was ALWAYS a [printed] copy of the ballot we soon would be handed, appropriately marked with a big red X across the entire page or otherwise made unusable. Anyway, no surprises after looking at that! Of course, on the other hand, there was no checking the internet on the fly for candidate info. Heh. …and, yes, the title and picture reference two kinds of railing. Heh-heh.
Monday, 21 May 2018
I find lily-peace a great counterpoint to the tensions that “Westworld” generates in my psyche. And the thunder that came in last night…whew…that added to my stress. Tonight, I found “Westworld” easier to emerge myself in…no thunder.
TMI? Here’s a simple, uncomplicated hosta bloom-shoot. Tah-dah!
Sunday, 20 May 2018
I guess that the temp outdoors dropped about 12°F in an hour this evening shocked me so much I have a delayed post for today. I expect the humidity will continue to be high, but without the heat it loses just a bit of its punch.
Saturday, 19 May 2018
There can’t be too many plants with emergent spring leaves that are not a shade of green. These are greenish pink? Actually, nandinas exhibit a range of leaf colors…so maybe not so strange?
I’ve been watching this corner…now newly fixed. I’m afraid that without bollards or other defensive structures, one of the next dozen dually delivery trucks to right-turn here will once again flip the metal out of its resting place. And the cycle of damage/fixing will continue.
Friday, 18 May 2018
Is there such a thing as a cheer-up weekend? I’m looking for one.
Really, I’m okay.
Got out of my head in the late afternoon to create a poached chicken dish…boneless/skinless thighs in white wine, but sauté bacon and onion first, throw in some garlic, then the chicken, white wine…and let it simmer. Add in some carrot coins and later some mini-zucchini chunks…then throw some parmesan shavings and fresh julienned basil on each portion. Enjoy with a big salad.
A Friday-night recovery feast. I’m on my way.
Thursday, 17 May 2018
I made an invited visit to the new duplex of the niece and her (tada!) fiancé; they’re still working on the move in and needed our drill for an Ikea-assembly undertaking. While I was there, we shifted furniture here and there, checking out options. I wonder how many times they’ve reoriented it since!
During my visit we inspected the back yard from the deck…and spotted what might well be the totem animal of the property. Hypothesis, anyway.
Later, on my walk, I was glad to encounter interesting plant compositions—here: hosta nestled into the base of an oak—and no additional opossums. Whew.
Wednesday, 16 May 2018
When I left the house early-ish this afternoon, I thought I’d collect rain*-on-plant pictures, and that would guide my comments. Not so much. Here are blades trying to shade(?) the sidewalk…or otherwise extend themselves. If personification is allowed.
And this wooden fence, after 24 hrs of rain and drippiness, is a festival of wet wood and lichen decorations.
And, because you’ve been patient, and perhaps a bit curious, here is the image I thought I’d lead with when I captured it early in my walk…but, then I found a few pretties, and the world shifted…and, unlike the other day, I remembered my plan. And here’s a gross fungal growth…I see plenty of…sprouting on mulch material.
* Rain off and on for the last day, so we’re in a decomposing environment, and the smells are nothing like the honeysuckle and gardenia blooms prominent over the last few days.